The European Union recently unveiled the Ocean Pact – a comprehensive strategy it said is intended to protect the ocean and promote a thriving blue economy.
The newly unveiled strategy fulfills a promise made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who pledged to create the strategy in July 2024. The European Ocean Pact was officially adopted on 5 June, and von der Leyen unveiled the new strategy at the start of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, which is running from 9 June through 13 June.
“I am very proud and very grateful that today we can present the first European Ocean Pact. It is our common European vision of ocean governance combined with concrete policy action,” von der Leyen said during a speech at the conference.
The ocean pact contains a set of six priorities: restoring ocean health and productivity; boosting sustainable competitiveness of the blue economy; supporting coastal and island communities; advancing ocean research, knowledge, and innovation; enhancing maritime security and resilience, and strengthening E.U. ocean diplomacy and international governance.
Each priority also includes multiple areas of action, which include a number of initiatives like evaluating the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), developing a “Vision 2040 for fisheries and aquaculture,” and launching an E.U. ocean observation initiative, among many others.
“For me, it is important that there are not only nice headlines; it also is important to have a clear idea and vision, but we all know: Only what gets measured gets done. We need targets, figures, and goals that we want to reach,” von der Leyen said.
European fisheries trade body Europêche welcomed the new pact and said it was encouraged that ...
